Well I was sittin', waitin', wishin'...

Pic of the group waiting for the next flight in Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris.

To most, this stop was a grueling 4 and a half hours where sleep deprivation was finally taking its toll. As for me, since I had gotten that little nap on the first flight, I wandered around exploring the airport's little shops, newsstands, and general structure of it all. The architecture of the building is pretty neat, check out the ceiling trusses here. It kinda reminds me of a backbone.

Before I get too far ahead of myself though, let me prep you on the Charles De Gaulle airport should you ever have to travel through Paris. No matter what, you will be spending a minimum of about 2 hours transferring from flight to flight. When we landed, we spent about 30 minutes just on the runway getting to the stop for the bus to the main terminal. The bus to the terminal took 10 minutes as well, but we were at a different gate, so we needed to wait for another bus to transfer us over shortly after. None of it was a huge ordeal or stressful, but its not what I'm used to seeing at an airport. The place was just monstrous. When leaving on your following flight be prepared for another 30 minutes on the runway as well.

So that was that, a little waiting and a bit of exploration before the flight to Milan. I gotta say, that second flight was not as fun as the first. I got the middle seat in a row of three on a smaller plane, where I could neither stand all the way up when going through the aisles, or sit comfortably because my knees were jabbing into the seat in front of me. I was definitely thankful that this one was only two hours instead of the eight hour trek of the first flight.

When arriving in Milan, all of the students raced out to baggage claim to get our stuff, and wheel away our bags to yet another bus about a half mile away. A few of us weren't so lucky, however. Two students had lost some luggage in customs miscues, and one of my roommates, Bryan, had only his carry-on with him. Now it's friday, and he's still without his bags. We've been told they are now on their way, but don't have any idea when they will arrive.

The bus trip from Milan to Riva, the final stop, introduced us to Jeffry. He is more or less our resident advisor, but he is also the cultural events coordinator that helps us out when wandering around town while we are still re-learning the italian language. He knows every single person in town, and has a vast knowledge of everything local, along with several things about places we will be going later on in the trip.

After about an hour or so, we finally arrived at the Villa Maderni,(Maderni Manor) where the majority of us are staying. It also houses the classroom on the 1st floor (2nd in America, as we usually count the ground floor as the 1st).
After unloading all the luggage from the bus, we all filled out our paperwork that was still yet to be done. After finishing, we turned in our deposits for room keys, digital key-cards for entry into the Villa, and towels. Once all that was taken care of, each student was sent free to explore their rooms, the manor, or their apartments before heading to bed.

So there it was, wacky wednesday in a nutshell.

Orientation day coming soon...

Peace and Carrots,
B Ezie